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Story : The Charter
Back to: Decisions The Scroll Unfurled The lower chamber filled slowly over the first hour after breakfast as the sun rose steadily toward its zenith, and the gentle beams of reddish light filtering through the skylight became steadily brighter. The table had been cleared of the detritus of the previous days, and dominating the surface lay the unfurled scroll upon which the charter had been scribed. So that all could read it at once, the chairs had been pushed back from the table, so that one merely need walk up and down its length to view different parts of the scroll. From the kitchen the sound of pots being washed and the lingering smell of food filtered down, but did little to disturb the deliberating magi. Ambrosius sat at the massive stone-slab table, a piece of clay in his hands, concentrating intently on manipulating it. He furrowed his brow as he pressed the clay between fingers, rolled it between palms and flattened it against the cold stone of the table. Finally, satisfied that he'd come to understand whatever aspect of the material he'd set out to examine, he mumbled Perdo Terram, and the clay vanished. He wrote out some notes in a bound parchment book before him, and them pushed it aside, giving the ink time to dry before he closed the cover. While he waited for the meeting to begin, he engaged Bedo and Phaedrus in conversation regarding the nature of the tasks they had before them, allowing himself to hypothesize a bit about the hundreds of magi that had faced similar challenges before them. Once all were present and a little time had passed for morning greetings and idle words, Mnemosyne addressed the group and formally opened the meeting. It was much the same as the previous two times she had opened the meeting, with a formal declaration a listing of those present and a brief summary of the last meeting. The summary was short and to the point, as it had just happened the previous day and none of the magi needed reminding, but was merely for the record. After this duty was out of the way, Mnemosyne moved swiftly to the first issue and asked for discussion on the proposed charter. Twilight Ambrosius rose his hand to speak. "Sodalēs, we are not going to have a...um...perfect document to start, but I feel this charter is a much, much better start than I would have been able to provide." He smiled and nodded in thanks to Mnemosyne. "The only problem that I saw that I think should be addressed is the very real possibility of twilight. Even the most basic of spells can, ah, lead us into it, and I want to ensure that we are comfortable with what is required of us, and others...while we are in this state." "I must admit," confessed Mnemosyne. "I had not considered Twilight specifically during the creation of the charter and it is probably something I overlooked somewhat when I researching from other sources. Perhaps this is because I tend to - no doubt mistakenly - consider it to be something only... older magi, experience. I did, however, include provisions a member should be notified about upcoming meetings, and for if a member were unable to be present at meetings. I draw your attention to article 4, paragraph 1, section 2; article 6, paragraph 1, section 1; article 6, paragraph 4, section 4; and of course article 6, paragraph 5." "While these provisions do not directly relate to twilight, they could be used in the case of a magi entering twilight and this interfering with the proper running of the Covenant. However, if this is not sufficient - either due to clarity, or needing the provision to work in a different way, then an alteration can be effected." "I would agree with Ambrosius that it is a matter that should be stated clearly" Bedo added. "The question is the degree of rewriting of the draft it would cause. I have one other suggestion, that would also involve significant rewriting, if a new draft copy is to be made, but which may be too much work, if it is not to be. I would suggest that rather than requiring many separate clauses throughout the document to state that this clause or that clause applies to provisional members, that a clear distinction is made at the start between 'full members', and 'members, including provisional members' and that the terms 'full members' or 'members' be used consistently throughout the document. This is already done in some places, but not all. Effectively, it would reverse 13.2.9, so that the term "a member" would normally include a provisional member, and the term "a full member" would need to be used a lot more, where it did not. Apart from that, it seems to be it will work as is." Longinus paced along the scroll, pausing at the places indicated by Mnemosyne. He read them, enunciating slowly and carefully, though in something of a monotone. When he had finished he turned to Mnemosyne. "I'm sorry sodales. While this charter document is a work of legal art far beyond my abilities - indeed, such that I dare not answer Bedo's suggestion, I think that the areas you have indicated in fact highlight the need to have the status of a Magus in Twilight clarified. In fact, it seems to me that given the inability to contact, and thus notify, any mages in twilight, at any time any member is in twilight only emergency meetings can be called and only pressing issues can be covered, always by simple votes." He paused, brow furrowed. "It seems to me that this could be quite detrimental to the proper running of the covenant. I have given this some thought overnight and I think the most suitable way to resolve the twilight issue would be for a Magus who's known current status is Twilight to have a special status according him or her a selection of the usual rights and duties but relieving him of the remaining rights and duties. Of rights, I think that numbers two, four and seven are clearly appropriate and numbers three, six and eight may be appropriate under certain circumstances. Of duties I think that three must be waived, two may be waived and one may be covered by paragraph three." Clearly finished for the moment Longinus looked around the meeting waiting for a response. Ambrosius nodded in agreement, looked as if he was going to speak, then sat back, as Bedo replied. "I will simplify my explanation then," Bedo said. "Rather than having one clause - say clause 9.9.1 - which says "a member must eat fish on Friday", followed by another one, 9.9.2 which says "This also applies to a provisional member" followed by 9.10.1 which says "A member may spit out the bones", which because it does not have a 9.10.2 only applies to full members, it could be 9.9.1 "A member must east fish on Friday", 9.10.1 "A full member may spit out the bones" - saying the same thing much more clearly. Does that help?" Again, Ambrosius nodded in agreement. Mnemosyne shrugged. "I see your point, Bedo. However, to be honest the need to rewrite large amounts of the Charter for mere cosmetic appearances does not seem be particularly urgent. In addition, the removal of a few minor paragraphs balanced with the addition of potentially a great many extra words could actually work to make the Charter longer." She shrugged again, her expression bland. "I'm afraid this is not something which I care strongly about. I would rather look at more substantive issues, get the Charter signed and move on with the actual business of getting the Covenant built." Membership Longinus coughed uncomfortably. "I assume all of us gathered here will begin as full members of the covenant. However there is one clause which I will need permission of my fellows to exercise immediately." He rolled his shoulders as though to ease a tightness of the muscles. ""I refer to article three, paragraph two, section 5, lab texts. Due to a combination of my physical... condition, and mental gifts, I do not have any written lab texts representing my apprenticeship studies. In consequence, I must request that this duty be waived." He bowed his head. "However it makes me most uncomfortable to start by contributing less than my fellows so I would much prefer that a period, even if perhaps a rather long period, of grace be given in which to fulfill this duty." Ambrosius spoke, "Is there any reason why...., um, we cannot grant case by case waivers for any section of the charter, with a full vote?" On Office Could you change Name to a narrative description, please. Longinus "Magus Mnemosyne. I believe that as you have been chairing our meetings it would be appropriate for you to act in the role of outgoing Princeps for the purpose of electing our first Princeps." "I wish to second your nomination of Marcus as our first Princeps. It is clear that he is the best of us at general interaction with the mundanes and I believe this is likely to be of significant benefit as we establish ourselves." Marcus looked a little taken aback, but recovered quickly. "Ah. I will accept the nomination, but I would like to nominate Mnemosyne as well. She has been acting as Princeps and doing a fine job." On Vis Longinus "I wish to register a personal vis source as mentioned in Article nine paragraph one section one." "We need to establish a seniority amongst these five of us presently here for the purpose of choosing vis as under article nine paragraph three section four. I propose that we draw lots now for seniority and that the seniority between us five rotates, so that at each choosing he who was previously last becomes first. Not all vis is created equal, nor is the need for specific flavours always commensurate to the availability of the same, so there will be times when the order of choice may be critically important to some." On Voting Phaedrus"I'm a bit concerned about our ability to hold Council meetings during a tribunal, and for the possibility of someone needing their sigil on travel. We ought to have provisions for when someone's sigil needs to be away." "One way to handle this could be to register a proxy on a previous council." "I might be mistaken," Ambrosius said, "but doesn't one of the houses require that fili leave their sigils with there parens, even after their gauntlet?" On Voting process' Phaedrus ''"The right to control voting, as in Article 6, Paragraph 3, Section 4, is rather powerful. I would like to have a check on that. If two or more members opposes the proposed voting process, the question should be stated in another way." "I am also convinced that if half of the members are not in agreement with a proposal then the other half have probably missed some troublesome detail in the proposal. I would like some provision that makes clear that the goal of even a simple vote is a lot more than half "Yay", perhaps by explicitely asking for an amendment to the decision if a vote passes, but more than a quarter, or one sixth for a Greater vote, of the votes was "Nay"." On Duties Phaedrus "Section 5.2.5 regulates longer absences from the covenant. Section 5.2.4 gives the possibility of providing one's service ahead of time, provided a greater vote agrees. I would like to add the option to allow a service to be provided ahead of time to cover potential absences, like twilight, with only a Simple vote. My reasoning behind this is that there will be times when we can not agree to relinquish a member's service in the near future but the extra season's service is of real value to the covenant." more? 1220Q3 1220Q3 12200626 Category:Mnemosyne Category:Ambrosius Category:Marcus Category:Longinus Category:Bedo Category:Phaedrus